Politics

Primary school works with care home and its hens to combat loneliness in residents

Pupils from Sharp Lane Primary School have been working with a local care home to take part in weekly chicken-themed activities with residents – and their hens.

For the past two years, pupils from the school in Leeds have visited Nesfield Lodge care home every Tuesday to take part in activities such as candlemaking and art workshops.

Most recently, some year 2 pupils have joined residents to work with Mat Dale, a local photographer, to take pictures of the care home’s hens and make collages from the images to be displayed around the home.

The hens joined the home in 2015 as part of the HenPower scheme – established by Equal Arts, a creative aging charity – which encourages older people to take up hen-keeping to promote wellbeing and reduce loneliness.

Danielle Bird, an activity coordinator at the home, said: “It is so important to welcome the community into the home, it makes the residents feel involved and means there are always exciting events going on.

“The residents adore the children from the school and you can see them light up when they visit. We have really enjoyed working with Mat and his sessions have been really interesting.”

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